The Prayers in the Field

One of the students of the Baal Shem Tov once travelled to his Rebbe for Yom Kippur. On the day before Yom Kippur, since he did not get to buy hay for the horses the day before, and they had not eaten the whole previous day, they needed to stand outside the city in the forest to graze.

In the middle of all this the chassid sat down to rest a bit and fell asleep, and when he got up he saw that the stars had already come out. Since he was a distance from the city, the chassid was forced to remain outside the city and to observe Yom Kippur there.

The chassid was greatly distressed about this, and he prayed in a heartbroken manner.

As soon as Yom Kippur ended the chassid traveled to the city to the Baal Shem Tov, who received him with a smiling countenance and great joy, and said to him: "You should know that your prayer elevated all the prayers of the 'people of the fields.'"1